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MARYLAND LAW REVIEW

[VOL. 42

a decision converting a white school to a black one.31 Windows were
broken and black tar was smeared on white marble steps.32 And when
a black family moved into a house on Stricker Street they were at-
tacked and the house was stoned.33 But white terrorism was no match
for the combined purchasing power of housing-hungry blacks. Money
talked.

In their effort to move eastward, on the other hand, blacks had
been unsuccessful. Druid Hill Avenue had remained the eastern
boundary of the Negro district In its 1600 block, residences of the
"best" Negro families were directly across the street from Western
High School, the "best" public girl's school — which was for whites
only.54 This barrier was reinforced by the affluence of the white neigh-
borhood to the east. Eutaw Place was a broad, landscaped boulevard

which had been designed to encourage residential development and to
enhance property values in the vicinity. The plan was a success and the
Eutaw Place neighborhood had become one of the most fashionable
residential sections of Baltimore.33 It had spread three blocks west of
the boulevard itself with Druid Hill Avenue serving" as its western
boundary.

In the summer of 1910, George W.F. McMechen purchased a
house at 1834 McCulloh Street. McMechen, a Yale law graduate and a
practicing attorney, moved with his wife and children from his former
house on Prestman Street, ten blocks to the west. McMechen was cele-
brating his professional success by moving into one of the most fash-
ionable neighborhoods in Baltimore.36 The move is memorable only
because McMechen and his family were black. He had crossed the
eastern boundary of the Negro district and purchased a house in the
Eutaw Place neighborhood.

This violation of the color line provoked considerable agitation.
Police were necessary to protect the McMechen house from young ruf-

- fians.37 A mass meeting was held on July 5, 1910 and a petition pre-
pared requesting that the Mayor and City Council: "take some
measures to restrain the colored people from locating in a white com-
munity, and proscribe a limit beyond which it shall be unlawful for

'- 51. Id.	'                              —-                                -,  -    -    -

52. Hawkins, supra note 4, at 27.

53. Transcript of interview with Dr. J.O. Spencer, R.G. 102, Box 121, National Archives
(June 20, 1916).

54. S. OLSON, supra note 8, at 277.

55. J. DORSEY & L DILTS, A GUIDE TO BALTIMORE ARCHITECTURE 187 (2d ed. 1981).

56. George W F. McMechen, Md. Vertical File, Enoch Pratt Free Library; Hawkins,
supra note 4, at 28.

57. Hawkins, supra note 4, at 28.